Kai Sotto's New G-League Coach is a Five-Time NBA Champion in Brian Shaw

With both Kai Sotto and Jalen Green making the headlines after announcing their decisions to play for the National Basketball Association (NBA) G-League Select Team, the next question is: who will coach these highly-touted prospects out of high school?

Initially, former NBA Coach of the Year Sam Mitchell was reported to be in the talks to handle the team that also includes Isaiah Todd and Daishen Nix but nothing has come out of those talks. Now, it seems that Kai Sotto's skills will be furthermore honed by a five-time NBA champion who also played alongside one of the greatest shooting guards to ever play the game. 

Brian Shaw, who was drafted by the Boston Celtics as the 24th overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft, But even before entering the NBA, he was already winning as he also played for the US national team that faced the Soviet Union in the gold medal match of the 1986 International Basketball Federation  (FIBA) World Championships where Shaw drained a crucial three in the dying seconds that enabled the Americans to escape with an 87-85 victory in Madrid. Spain.

While he signed a one-year deal with the Celtics in his first year, Shaw went on to sign a two-year deal with the II Messagero Roma or now known as the Virtus Roma- an Italian team, in 1989. Then, he signed a five-year contract with Boston in 1990 all while telling the Celtics that he planned to play for that Italian team in the 1990 season. Shaw having contracts with different teams at the same time gave birth to the "Boston Celtics versus Shaw" dispute in which Shaw would lose and would become a famous sports law case and has been used as an example in law schools.  

Despite his controversial stint with the Celtics, it's amazing that Shaw went on to play in the NBA until 2003 in a playing career that saw him play in Miami, Orlando, Golden State, Philadelphia, Portland, and finally, in the City of Angels- Los Angeles.

It was his stint with the Los Angeles Lakers alongside Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal from 1999 to 2003 that saw Shaw some of the memorable points of his NBA career as him being the primary back-up of the late Kobe Bryant saw the Lakers remain as the most recent team to win a rare three-peat up to this point. 

Brian Shaw was also a part of Phil Jackson's coaching staff when the Lakers went back-to-back from 2010 to 2011. He also had a coaching stint in Indiana while briefly holding a head coaching job in Denver before returning to the Lakers as a member of Luke Walton's coaching staff. 

Considering the longevity he enjoyed in the NBA both as a player as an assistant coach, Brian Shaw would be the ideal coach to be the one to hone the skills of two high-touted prospects in Kai Sotto and Jalen Green. For one, Brian Shaw may not have the accolades but he certainly has the experience of playing in the NBA. And more importantly, he has five NBA championships under his belt: three as a player and two as an assistant coach.

Photo is from SB Nation